Changing Tides
by HufflepuffWeasley
Summary: Andy is confused. She just went on a school trip that changed her life and now has to go to a camp full of demigods! Luke is in pain. He keeps on getting headaches and has to follow orders that he doesn't really want to follow. But what happens when they collide minutes before Luke was to go to Olympus for the Winter Solstice and minutes after Andy's mum turned to dust? Fem!Percy
1. Prologue

**Disclaimer: Anything you recognise, I don't own! No matter how much I wish I did, I don't own anything to do with Percy Jackson. Now, on with the story!**

 **oOoOoOo**

I shoot upright, fear causing my body to tremble uncontrollably.

Another night, another demigod dream.

They have been plaguing me recently, transporting my dream self to a misty plane, every night without fail.

I say misty plane because I can never remember much about them, just small details here and there. It's like my memories are locked in another room and I'm standing on the other side of the door. I cam occasionally hear snippets of conversation, or see shadows of movement, but it's not much to go off. Yet, there are three things that I always remember: a deep, chilling voice; an overwhelming sense of fear, and the knowledge that I have to do as the voice says.

Not that I ever know too much about that until I have to carry out an order. Even then I'm not too sure what I'm doing. I get a compulsion in my brain: a small, niggling feeling in the of my mind that tells me to do something. If I don't, it grows and grows and grows until it's like a chorus of voices that boom around my head, telling me to FOLLOW THE ORDER. It hurts like Hades.

I'm not usually a rule follower. It's not in my nature; after all, I am a child of Hermes and we all take after him in more ways tha- _don't take pride in that! Father has abandoned all of us!_

What was I thinking about? Oh yeah, I'm not one to follow the rules. If not for the throbbing, I would refuse to do half the stuff that I'm asked to do. I don't agree with all of it fully, but a part of me always says that it's for the greater good. Of course, another part screams at me to not listen, but I tend to ignore that part. It might also be because I remember the voice threatening to do this to someone else instead. Someone in my family.

So I obey to protect them. My camp. My cabin.

I look around the cabin now, grateful that I had managed to not wake anyone up. Well, you never knew with Travis and Conner, but I would have thought that they'd have done something by now if they were awake. So I presume that they're still sleeping, thank the go- _anyone but the gods. I have NOTHING to thank them for._ My father never listened and he doesn't care. They say that they can't respond to us, that the laws stop them from interfering, but they don't even bother to claim all of their children!

I grimace as I remember the others who are sleeping on the floor. I tried to give up my bed, but they all refused. In a few months there'll be even less room than now. I don't know what we'll do when all the floorspace is used up. Annabeth may have a few ideas. I'll talk to her in the morning.

Even if we do find a place to put all the new kids, it doesn't excuse the gods' behaviour. We need to stand up for ourselves. Make them notice us. I'll do something great, and then my father may actually start to notice me beyond giving me a quest that has already been done…

 _NO!_ The gods will never recognise our achievements. We have to destroy them. Rise up together. Have a new era where half-bloods are valued and accepted. At least, I think that's what I want. That's what my mind is telling me.

I lay back on my bed as I stare at the ceiling, trying to collect my thoughts. They are jumping about everywhere, from my father, to the conversation I'll be having with Annabeth tomorrow, to what I'll be teaching tomorrow. But I can't focus. Stupid ADHD!

In my perfect world, I'd have no ADHD. I'd have no dyslexia. My mum wouldn't be insane and my father would care. All of the gods would care and pay attention to their children and we would live in harmony together and – _that wont happen_. So I have to fight for the next best thing, _no,_ _the best thing_. A world without the gods.

I strain to remember some small detail about my dream, never able to fully concentrate but trying nevertheless. All I want is a tiny detail that would give me a clue about what's going on in my mind and why I'm being locked out of my memories. Instead, all I can remember are three (probably important) things.

One – I'll have a big task to perform soon.

Two – Something has been given to me. Where it is, I don't know.

Three – This is my last chance: his faith in my loyalty is ever decreasing.

If I fail, my family may be in danger.

So I have to try.


	2. Chapter 1

Right, I'm going to set one thing straight. I didn't ask to be a half-blood.

My name is Andromeda Jackson. But that is a mouthful. So call me Andy; everyone else does. I am 12 years old and until a few months ago I was boarding at a school called Yancy Academy. It is a private school for troubled kids in upstate New York.

Am I a troubled kid?

Some people would say so, yeah.

My life itself is evidence enough for this, but if you wanted a specific example, then look no further than the middle of November last year. That was when our sixth-grade class went on a _thrilling_ field trip to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Originally they had planned to take us in the summer, but apparently we deserved a treat for behaving well over the start of the first semester. I didn't quite understand why they thought that taking frankly idiotic kids to stare at Ancient Greek and Roman stuff was a treat, but our Latin teacher Mr Brunner was leading the trip, so there was a possibility that it could have been okay.

Mr Brunner was this middle-aged dude in a motorized wheelchair. His hair was thinning and he had a scruffy beard that framed his face. More often than not he would wear a frayed tweed jacket that always smelt like coffee. He sounds like a really bad teacher, but he was the best Yancy had to offer. He told us stories and let the class play games. He even had this cool collection of Roman armour and weapons. His was the only class in which I didn't fall to sleep. Let me tell you, that is an achievement in itself!

My one wish for the day was that I wouldn't get into trouble. It happened more than I wanted it to.

Without even trying, I have been kicked out of every school I have been to. I'm not exaggerating. Most of the time, I've been expelled because of mishaps that happen on field trips. For example, at my fifth-grade school, we went to the Saratoga battlefield. The school didn't believe a single word that I said when I promised them that I didn't aim the cannon at the school bus. Who leaves working cannons around kids anyway? Needless to say, I was expelled. Before that, in fourth-grade, we went behind-the-scenes at the Marine World shark pool. One thing led to another and I sort of gave the class an unplanned swimming lesson.

Guess what happened. I was expelled!

That was why I planned to be good on this trip. Prove that I could go through a field trip and not create a huge disaster wherever I stepped.

But a certain freckly red-head kleptomaniac girl was making it really hard for me. Her name was Nancy Bobofit. I know, her last name sounds like a Star Wars character. Actually, Darth Vader's mask would really improve her facial features! She was the class bully and her target for the day (for most days to be honest) was my best-friend Grover. Her method of bullying? Chucking lumps of a peanut butter-and-ketchup sandwich at the back of Grover's head. It was just... ugh.

Grover was an easy target. He had some sort of muscular disease in his legs that came with a note excusing him from P.E for life, but being crippled doesn't help much when you're trying to get away from a group of girls that are bullying you. Don't let that fool you though. He could run as fast as a trained sprinter if it was enchilada day in the cafeteria. He was also scrawny and cried when he was frustrated. For someone who had obviously been held back a couple of grades, that wasn't a thing to be proud of. And he had definitely been held back - he was starting to grow a wispy beard and was the only sixth-grader with acne. If those aren't tell-tale signs then I don't know what is!

Not that I'm judging or anything.

Anyway, the crazy klepto girl was tossing wads of sandwich (if you could even call it that) into Grover's curly brown mop of hair since she knew that I couldn't do a thing. Why? The headmaster of Yancy had threatened to give me in-school-suspension if anything relatively fun happened on this trip. Apparently, I didn't deserve to go on the trip, but as the rest of my class was going, I had to go too. I didn't see what I had done wrong, but according to headmaster there was long, long list.

Finally I had enough of Nancy and her game.

"I'm going to snap if she doesn't stop that right now!" I mumbled just loud enough for Grover (who sat beside me) to hear.

"I don't mind it! I actually kind of like peanut butter in my hair!" Grover tried to calm me down as he dodged another clump of Nancy's food. Unfortunately, it hit me instead.

"Yeah, well, I don't! She's in for it!" I attempted to scramble over Grover so I could reach her but he pulled me down.

"Andy, remember you're on probation already! You're the one who will get blamed if anything happens on this trip. What would your mum think?" He reminded me. Remembering my mum calmed me down a bit. I couldn't bear disappointing her again. Beating up Nancy wasn't worth it.

Looking back, I wish I had punched Nancy in the jaw there and then. It would have saved me a lot of trouble.

 **oOoOoOo**

Mr Brunner was the one leading the tour. He led the group from the front, pointing out large marble statues and crystal clear glass cases full of crumbling pottery depicting the scenes of the Greek and Roman myths.

I could hardly believe that the things in front of me had survived thousands of years. It was actually more interesting than I thought that it was going to be.

We paused next to a large stone column that honoured a girl about our age. Mr Brunner told us that it was a stele, which is a more complicated way of saying it was a grave marker. On the top lay a big sphinx and the sides were adorned with carvings that Mr Brunner was explaining to us. I was trying to listen to what he was saying, as I actually found it kind of fascinating, but it was getting increasingly more and more difficult because everyone around me was talking. I couldn't even tell them to be quiet as whenever I did the other teacher on the trip, Mrs Dodds, sent me a demon glare.

Mrs Dodds was a maths teacher from Georgia who every day without fail would wear a black leather jacket. She was, like, fifty years old for goodness sake! She also just so happened to look mean enough to drive a Harley straight into an unsuspecting student's locker. She had arrived at Yancy a month into the school year after our original teacher had a mental breakdown. Working with children like us can't be the easiest job in the world.

Since her first day, Mrs Dodds thought that Nancy was an angel sent down from heaven and I was the daughter of the devil. Every time I did anything remotely wrong in her class she would point her wrinkled finger in my direction and say "Now, honey" in a really sweet manner and I just knew that I would get detention for a week.

One time, when she had kept me in detention for a ridiculously long amount of time, I met Grover in a secret alcove we would always hide from bullies in and I confided to him that I didn't think that she was human. He stared at me for a few seconds, shock clearly sketched onto his face, but then answered that he completely agreed with me. He looked really serious as he said it, almost as if he actually believed what he was saying. He may have done, because if I know one thing about Grover it is that he can't lie, even for a joke.

While I was off in my own little world, Mr Brunner had continued to talk. I quickly began to listen again but it was still hard. Nancy and her little posse had come up behind me and were sniggering about something in barely concealed whispers. That was the last straw. I span around on my heel and hissed "Shut up!"

Apparently, it came out louder than I wanted it to and the whole class turned around to face me. A chorus of laughs echoed around the room. Mr Brunner stopped his speech.

"Do you have a comment, Miss Jackson?" He asked calmly.

A huge blush raced across my face as I stuttered out a small "No Sir".

With a raised eyebrow he pointed to the largest picture on the stele. "Okay then, maybe you could tell the class what this shows."

I looked at the carving properly for the first time and I was surprised to say that I knew it. I actually knew a bit about the basics of ancient Greek myths. Once when I was eight my mum told me the story of Perseus and Andromeda after I asked her why she had called a name that was so difficult to pronounce. I loved the story so much that I made her tell me more and more and I got to know a few stories quite well. Sometimes I would talk about it in Mr Brunner's class when he asked me questions but I didn't make it common knowledge that I knew about mythology. It would raise people expectations of me and then I'd just end up disappointing them.

"That's Kronos eating his kids." I answered, slowly gaining back my confidence.

"Correct," he told me "but can you elaborate on that Miss Jackson?"

"Well," I responded once again "Kronos was the king of the Titans, but he didn't trust his kids so he ate them. But his wife Rhea didn't like all her children being eaten. When she gave birth to her youngest child Zeus, she gave Kronos a rock to eat instead. Zeus grew up, made Kronos upend his stomach to get his siblings out and a big fight happened. In the end, the gods won." I was rather proud of my answer. I had even used the posh word for being sick!

"That's disgusting!" I heard an annoying hiss coming from the direction of Nancy behind me. A sigh escaped my mouth as I heard what she said. Of course she would be the one to say something like that. "We will never use this in real life! No job application will ever say 'Explain how Kronos ate his kids'!"

"Yes, Miss Bobofit does raise a good point. Why, Miss Jackson, would we ever need this information in real life?" He looked serious but laughter shone in his eyes. He was the only one who could ever catch Nancy doing anything wrong and he knew it. Yet, I just frowned, thinking about the question.

"I don't know. Sir." I replied sheepishly.

"I see." Mr Brunner seemed disappointed "Well, you get half-credit anyway Miss Jackson. Since you explained it so briefly I will go into more depth. Zeus did feed Kronos a combination of wine and mustard, which in turn made him, as you put it, upend Zeus' five older siblings who, being immortal gods, had been living and growing up, unable to be digested in their father's stomach. The gods defeated their father and sliced him to pieces with his own scythe. They scattered his remains in Tartarus, the darkest part of the Underworld. Now, on that happy note, it's time for lunch. Would you lead them outside please, Mrs Dodds."

One by one, the group drifted off, the girls holding their stomachs, the guys shoving each other around like the stupid pre-teens they were. Grover and I were going to follow when Mr Brunner called out to me. I told Grover to go ahead and that I would catch up with him. I turned on the spot to face Mr Brunner. I nodded my head to tell him that I was listening. He had a look that wouldn't let you go. His eyes were an intense brown and gave the impression that he had seen more than you ever had. Like he had lived for thousands of years.

"You need to learn to answer all the questions I ask you properly." He spoke after a while. I thought he meant about the Titans. I was often prone to giving condensed versions of stories. Using as little words as possible to explain things.

I began to give an excuse; Mr Brunner wouldn't punish me for this. "Sorry sir, but I always try to keep my answers short -"

"Not about the Titans Andy." He cut me off "About real life. How your studies apply to everyday situations."

"Oh" was all I was able to respond with. I couldn't think of what to say to that.

"What I teach you will be vitally important in your life. I expect that you treat it as such. I will only allow you to give me your best Andy Jackson." He finished off. I didn't know what to do. I wanted to get angry. I wanted to so badly. I was pushed so hard in his class - harder than anyone else. Yeah, sure, it was fun on tournament days when he put on a suit of Roman armour and cried 'What ho!'. He would challenge us, sword tapping the blackboard, to name every Roman and Greek person who existed, their mother and what god they worshipped. However, I was expected to beat every other person in the room to the answer. Having ADHD and dyslexia didn't matter. I was expected to be as good as them – no, better. I just couldn't do it.

I muttered something about trying to reach his expectations but he wasn't listening. He was looking towards the stele mournfully, as if he was present at the girl's funeral. Realising I was still there, he told me to go eat my lunch.

 **So, this is my first story and I hope you like it! I know that Fem!Percy has been done lots of times before, but I hope to bring my own spin on it.**

 **With that said, this story will not focus on Percabeth. I love the ship and I love Annabeth, but that isn't the direction I'm going with in this fic.**

 **While I will try my best, my updates wont be very fast and I often don't know what to write. I don't have an update schedule and writing is just a hobby that I do in my spare time - something that I don't have a lot of.**

 **But anyway, I hope you liked this first chapter!**

 **Lizzie xxx**


	3. Chapter 2

Outside, the group had congregated on the front steps of the museum where we could watch the traffic to take our minds off things. The weather was fairly nice for November, a light blue sky with only a few clouds dotted around the place. A blanket of red and brown covered the floor as the trees rapidly lost their leaves to the season. There was nothing wrong with New York, but I couldn't help but feeling a bit tormented. A small part of me felt like something was about to go very wrong.

It didn't seem like anyone else felt that way. Some of the boys were throwing crackers at a poor pigeon's head. Nancy had her beady eyes set on an old woman's purse, probably wanting to steal something. Of course, Mrs Dodds wasn't seeing any of her actions and had her eyes set on me.

Grover and I sat on the edge of a fountain, trying to distance ourselves from the others. It was as if we sat far enough away, people wouldn't think we were from the school of idiots.

"Did you get detention?" Grover asked

"From Brunner? Nah. I just wish he would let me go at my own pace sometimes. I'm not like everyone else." I said. Grover didn't say anything back. He looked deep in thought, an expression I wasn't used to on him. Then, when he opened his mouth again, it wasn't to tell me some advice like I thought it would be. It was to ask me for my apple. I had lost my appetite a while back, so I let him have it. As he munched away, I watched the bright yellow taxis drive down Fifth Avenue and thought about my mum's apartment, which seemed so far away from me.

I hadn't seen her since the end of the summer holidays. It would have been so easy to run away, hop in a cab and ride home. She would hug me and say how much she missed me, but would send me straight back to Yancy. She would be disappointed and remind me that I just needed to try a little harder. The look she would give me would be enough to send me back to school with no complaints. I wouldn't be able to stand seeing her upset.

As I came out of my little daydream, Mr Brunner had drawn up next to the class and perched in his wheelchair by the base of the handicapped ramp. He munched on celery while he read a paperback novel I often caught him reading. A vermillion umbrella stood on the back of his chair, making it look like a portable café table.

I was about to unwrap my sandwich when Nancy showed up with her posse trailing behind her. She had probably become bored of stealing from the tourists. Grover flinched when she dropped her half-eaten lunch onto his lap.

"Oh, I'm so sorry." She said with a smirk on her face, proving to me that she was being sarcastic. I tried to stay calm. I counted from one to ten. I counted from ten to one. Yet my mind still went blank as I heard a wave crash in my ears.

Next thing I know, Nancy is sitting, dripping wet, in the fountain.

"Andy pushed me!" she screamed. I couldn't remember doing anything, yet I heard the whispers of kids around me accusing me of pushing her in. One person muttered that Nancy had tripped. Another said that the water had pulled her in. I didn't have much time to think about the last comment as Mrs Dodds appeared next to me. As soon as she was sure that angelic Nancy was okay, promising her a new shirt from the gift shop, she turned to face me. A victorious fire burned in her eyes. It was as I had done something she had been waiting for all her life.

"Now honey..." she started off before I cut her off.

"Detention, I know" She started to lead me away, looking disappointed with my answer.

"Stop! It was me! I was the one who pushed her! It wasn't Andy!" Grover piped up from behind us. Two girls murmured in agreement with him. I was stunned. Not only was Grover standing up to Mrs Dodds, a teacher he was deathly afraid of, he also lied to her. Grover! The worst liar I ever had the pleasure of meeting! Sadly, it was all for nought.

"You will stay here Mr Underwood." Mrs Dodds glared at Grover with an expression akin to hatred present on her face. Grover staggered weakly behind us as I patted him quickly on the back. I sent him a look, trying to thank him for the help and not to worry about me. I'm not sure he got the message. When I looked back he was definitely worried.

Mrs Dodds gestured for me to follow her, not seeing the need to use words, as Nancy gave me a conceited smile. I sent a deluxe 'I'll-kill-you-later' stare in her direction before twisting to Mrs Dodds only to find that she was gone. I checked around me before seeing that she was already at the top of the steps. How did she get there so fast? She must have been excited to give me a punishment; otherwise there would have been no possible way for her to get there that quickly.

I passed it off as my ADHD acting up. I would often have moments where I miss key pieces of information as my brain had fallen asleep. It was as if a piece of the universe had fallen away and I was staring at the empty hole it had created, wishing there was some way to get it back. My various councillors had told me this was my brain misinterpreting things, but I wasn't sure that I believed them.

Following Mrs Dodds, I began to ascend the stairs. Halfway up, I stole a quick glance towards Grover. He looked as white as a sheet and his eyes darted between me and Mr Brunner in a continuous motion. It was almost as if he wanted Mr Brunner to notice what was taking place, to stop reading and to pay attention to the class. Come to think of it, that was what he should have been doing anyway. Predictably, that didn't happen.

I looked back up and noted that I had lost sight of Mrs Dodds again. I walked up the steps slightly faster than before when I saw that she was inside the building, waiting impatiently at the end of the entrance hall.

I was confused as to why we were going back inside the museum. Did she want me to buy Nancy a new shirt? If that was the case then she would have to wait. I was basically broke, with only $10 to my name. Fortunately, that wasn't the plan as we walked straight past the shop and further into the gallery. We went deeper and deeper into the museum and eventually came to a stop in the very same Greek and Roman section we were touring around earlier. We were the only people in the room.

Mrs Dodds stood ominously, arms crossed in front of a large marble statue of a Greek god; I wasn't quite sure which one. A growling sound came out of her throat. It creeped me out. It definitely wasn't a normal sound that a normal human made. It was strange being alone completely with a teacher, especially a teacher as terrifying as Mrs Dodds. Maybe it was the way she stared at the statue, as if she wanted to crush it under her foot like an ant.

"You have been giving us problems, honey." She said after turning her attention back to me.

"I'm sorry Miss." I gulped, inching closer to the doorway.

She fiddled with the cuffs of her shirt, continuing to stare at me with what I could only describe as an evil glint in her eye. "Did you really think you would get away with it? That you could fool _us_?" she snarled. That was the point when I started to doubt that Mrs Dodds wouldn't hurt me. It was just a small nagging at the back of my mind, but it was there.

"I'll... I'll try harder. I p...promise." I stuttered, scared. I didn't understand what she was talking about.

"No matter what you may think, we are not stupid, Andromeda Jackson." Mrs Dodds started "It was only a matter of time before we found out about your existence. Only a matter of time before we realised the act that you have committed. Confess now, and you will suffer less pain."

That got the cogs whirring in my brain. She said my name. My FULL name. I always requested for my name to change on the register from Andromeda to Andy. By the time Mrs Dodds came, she wouldn't have had a clue that Andromeda was my full name. Most assumed it was Andrea. It not only confused but terrified me. Mrs Dodds was different, but I didn't know why or how.

"Well?" she demanded after a short while.

"Ma'am I really don't..." I was cut off

"Your time is up!" she hissed. Then, right before my very eyes, Mrs Dodds began to change. She suddenly spouted wings made up of the same material as her leather jacket. Her eyes started to glow like burning coals and her fingers stretched, turning into sharp claws. For the second time that day my mind flashed to when I had told Grover I didn't think Mrs Dodds was human. This had just proved me right. She was an ugly, old hag with wings that could only be described as bat-like hanging from her shoulder blades. Her mouth was full of yellowed fangs, all rotten. She looked like she wanted to eat me for her next meal.

She probably did.

She was about to make a grab at me when we heard a voice from the doorway. Both of our heads whipped to the noise. It must have looked quite comic.

"What ho, Andy!" Mr Brunner shouted at the top of his lungs. There he sat in his wheelchair, a serious expression on his face. As he spoke, he lobbed a ballpoint pen in my direction.

Coming back to her senses, Mrs Dodds lunged at me. However, I managed to leap out of the way just in time and deftly caught the flying object. A sword lay in my right hand, not the pen I expected. It wasn't any old sword either – it was Mr Brunner's bronze one he used on tournament days.

Mrs Dodds span intent on slashing me with her talons. My knees were shaking so much it was like I was on a tightrope. I was more nervous than I could possibly describe, and the murderous look in my attacker's eyes didn't help the sense of impending doom much.

A snarl grew on her face as she shrieked "Die, honey!"

She flew straight towards my shaking body.

A jolt of horror coursed through my bones as I let my subconscious take control. I can't describe exactly what came over me but my body decided that it didn't particularly fancy bring killed.

I swung the sword.

The shining metal sliced through her body in one swift, clean movement from her shoulder to waist. Her body blasted into fine, golden dust and the scent of sulphur spread around the room. Her dying screech echoed in my ear, sending a chill down my spine. It felt as if she was still there; as if her beady red eyes were still watching my every movement.

But I was alone. A ballpoint pen sat my hand. No demonic teacher. No teacher in a wheelchair.

Just me.

Had I imagined everything? I doubted it. Not even my wild imagination could create something that crazy.

I raced outside, worried and confused.

The sun was still shining high in the sky. The class chatted cheerfully and only a few noticed me reappear again, one of whom was Nancy. She had been standing, complaining to her friends, clothes still soaked through from the fountain. When she saw me she stormed over.

"I hope Mrs Kerr gave you detention for a month!" she hissed at me.

"Who?" I answered, confused.

"Our teacher you moron! Or are you too stupid to know the name of your own teacher?" She said with a huff before rolling her eyes and stalking away.

It took me a few moments to digest the information. I looked down at the pen grasped in my hand and decided to go to talk to Mr Brunner. His wheelchair was parked next to the bottom of the handicapped ramp, as if he had never moved. He moved his gaze to me as I walked over and it dropped to the pen in my hand.

"Thank you for bringing my pen back Andy, next time please bring your own equipment." I slowly handed it over and asked where Mrs Dodds was. Nancy's answer had just confused me even more.

"Mrs Dodds?" He replied, confused "I've never heard of a teacher named Mrs Dodds. I've definitely never heard of a Mrs Dodds at Yancy. Are you okay Andy?"

I nodded my head meekly in response as I strode away towards Grover.

"Grover, where is Mrs Dodds?" I questioned.

"Who?" He squeaked.

But he had hesitated. Grover couldn't lie, and to me, that particular question just signalled the fact that he was hiding something. So I my mind jumped to the only possible conclusion: there _was_ a Mrs Dodds.

I knew that something was up.

 **Hey guys... *sheepishly rubs back of my head* Its been a while, hasn't it?**

 **I'm so sorry that I haven't updated. I wrote this chapter very close to when the original was put up but thought that I would wait a while before updating, because of a reason that I cannot remember for the life of me. That lead to me completely forgetting about this story!**

 **But, finally, here is chapter 2! I also edited chapter 1 a bit, if only to take out my drastic overuse of !, which I am embarrassed about just how much I actually used it.**

 **So yeah, hope you enjoyed it! Also, if anyone has any amazing fanfiction to recommend to me from ANY fandom, I would love to have some new material to check out! Thanks guys.**

 **Lizzie xxx**


	4. Chapter 3

The occasional weird experience I could live with. They added excitement to my relatively boring life. They were over quickly.

This experience wasn't just weird. It was plain bizarre. I felt as though I was trapped in a twenty-four/seven hallucination that I couldn't escape from, no matter how hard I tried.

For the next month the entire school seemed to be playing a prank on me. Everyone acted as though Mrs Kerr – a happy-go-lucky blonde – had been our teacher since October. It seemed like I was the only one who could remember Mrs Dodds. When I tried to trip others up with a reference to her I just got weird looks and confused glances.

It got so bad that I almost believed them. I almost believed that I was crazy and had memories of events that never happened.

Key word: almost.

It came down to one simple fact that I was constantly repeating to myself those four, long weeks.

Grover couldn't lie.

He never had been able to and he never would. Any mention of Mrs Dodds that slipped from my tongue would produce a hesitation from him before he claimed that she never existed. Always with a stutter. Always with a nervous frown. Grover couldn't fool me. Something had happened at the school trip and I was determined to find out what.

I didn't have much time to think about it in the middle of the day. School kept me busy and end of term tests were coming up that I had to at least attempt to revise for. But at night, when the moon was surrounded by thousands of stars, Mrs Dodds haunted my nightmares. Her talons would whip past me, sometimes cutting me, sometimes not. I would wake up shaking, terrified of the memories while my dorm-mate slept soundly.

I was constantly stressed, constantly tired from my lack of sleep. My grades began to drop from the already terrible Ds to Fs. I snapped at everyone, including Grover. I got into more fights with the school bullies. I was being sent out of the classroom every lesson.

Finally, when my science teacher asked me why I was sleeping in class instead of in my own time, I couldn't take it anymore. I shouted at him and told him to shut his mouth. If I wasn't able to sleep at night then I would try to do it in the day instead! It sounded like the logical solution to me then, but everyone stared at me like I had gone off my rocker. I was sent to the headmaster's office and he had a long rant telling me that: 'My behaviour wasn't acceptable!'. I may have caught a few Zs then as well. What? You would do the same!

In the aftermath of the meeting, a letter was sent home to my mum. It was official. I wasn't to be allowed back at Yancy the next term.

I told myself that it was fine. That I was fine. I was just homesick.

Homesick.

Home.

That was I where I wanted to be.

Snuggled with my mother under a blanket in our small apartment on Upper East Side having a Disney marathon. We would laugh and have a good time. Even if my stupid step-father was there too it wouldn't matter. His poker parties wouldn't bother us and we could be the power team again – the Jackson girls.

Yet I couldn't fool myself. I knew there were some things I would miss about Yancy. The view of the small woods from my dorm window and the way the Hudson looked on a cold evening. I would miss the smell of pine trees and the sound of birds' songs every morning. I'd miss Grover, the only person who had put up with me for that month. He had been a great friend, even if he was obviously lying to me. I worried about how he would be able to survive the constant teasing from Nancy without me.

I would miss Latin too – Mr Brunner seemed to be the only teacher who understood what I was going through. He was also the only teacher who had ever had faith in me and I would miss that.

In the end, Latin was the only class I properly tried to study for. I attempted to skim through the books but it was too hard with my dyslexia so I gave up. But I wanted to show Mr Brunner that I could do it. That his faith in me wasn't wrongly placed. So I persevered through the long hours of reading.

 **oOoOoOo**

It was the evening before my end of term test and I got so annoyed I chucked my copy of _Cambridge Guide to Greek Mythology_ across the room. The words had started to jumble in my mind. Swimming and swirling around the page, doing flips and spins as if they were gymnasts. I wasn't going to be able to remember the name of every minor god and what their domains were, on top of remembering the names to all the monsters and mythological creatures. And the actual Latin part of the test? Mr Brunner was kidding himself if he thought I was going to pass. I said I knew a _bit_ about Greek mythology, not that I was a genius on the subject!

I crawled across the carpet, checking that there wasn't a dent in the wall from where the book hit it. An image of a disappointed Mr Brunner plagued my mind and I couldn't get it out of my head.

I picked up the book and took a deep breath. I knew what I had to do, but I was going to have to lower my pride to do it.

I had never asked for help from a teacher before. Maybe it was the knowledge in the back of my mind that I knew they would never help me. But Mr Brunner was different. He would help. Even if he didn't, I could apologise for the massive F I was going to get on his exam. I didn't want to leave the school with him thinking that I hadn't tried.

I walked the short way downstairs from the dorms to the faculty offices. All of them were dark, empty rooms with no-one in them. All but one. Mr Brunner's door was ajar and the light from his room spread across the floor of the hallway.

I was about to push the door open, when I heard voices from inside the office. Mr Brunner asked a question, and a very familiar voice answered.

"... worried about Andy." Grover's voice rang out.

I stopped in my tracks.

Now, I'm not usually nosey. No, that was a lie. I'm a curious person. A very curious person. And I dare you to not listen in to a conversation your best friend and teacher were having about you. They were talking about me behind my back so of course I was going to listen to them!

I took a few steps back and crouched down low as anger started to bubble in my stomach. What right did they have to be talking about me?

"...no protection!" Grover continued "There was a kindly one at this school! We know for sure, they know for sure and she is starting to suspect! She won't shut up about Mrs Dodds and I don't like lying to her!"

So he admitted to it! He had been lying to me for weeks! I was beyond angry now – I was furious! I stormed back over to the door and shoved it open.

"Merely her imagination. The mist over everyone..." Mr Brunner trailed off he spotted me in the doorway. I was seething and he and Grover couldn't stop staring at me.

"You _were_ lying! There _was_ a Mrs Dodds!" I roared at them

"Andy..." Mr Brunner started

"Why did you do it? I was stressing in my room about my apparent madness and revision for my Latin exam and I set my pride aside to ask for help on the test. What do I find when I get down here? My best friend and teacher having a little gossip about me behind my back!" I continued to scream.

"Andy. People will hear you." Mr Brunner tried again

"Turns out they were lying to me for a month. A whole month! Do you know how long I've been worried about that? How many times I've woken up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat from a nightmare about talons slashing in my face? You could have saved me from so much trouble! You could have saved me from being expelled! But what do you do? You go and keep secrets from me while I slowly lose my mind!"

"Andy!" Mr Brunner says forcefully as I finally burst into tears. I look down at their forms only to see something weird about their legs. But I didn't care for the moment. I was too busy crying my eyes out.

Grover, slowly getting over his shock, led me to a chair while Mr Brunner closed the door. I took in what I just overheard, witnessed and done. I had burst into Mr Brunner and Grover having a conversation about me and ranted at them. But I hadn't burst in on two normal people having a conversation. Oh no.

I had burst in on a centaur and satyr.

 **oOoOoOo**

It took me about half an hour to process all the information I had just taken in. That was only after I had calmed down. All of my feelings over being expelled, my nightmares and stress over exams came flooding out in one massive wave of emotion. I sobbed on Grover's shoulder while he awkwardly patted me on the back. I'm pretty sure his shirt was drenched from all the tears that had fallen on it. Once my eyes had dried up I started to focus on the bigger problem at hand.

The fact that my best friend and teacher were creatures from Greek mythology.

Despite the fact that the news should have shocked me, I wasn't as surprised as I should have been. Grover had often bleated when he was annoyed and he kept a rasta cap on his head at all times. Mr Brunner was also the only teacher Grover wasn't afraid of and now I knew why. Everything just clicked in my head, and I knew that my eyes weren't deceiving me.

A tiny smile grew on my face as I realised this.

"So, what's all this about then?" I laughed quietly, gesturing vaguely with my arms.

"Ah." Mr Brunner replied "Yes, that. Well, you see I'm a..."

"I know… you're a centaur," I cut him off slowly, trying to show them that I felt better by attempting to act like my bubbly self "I can tell that from just looking at you. But what I really want to know... How do you fit all of you legs in that wheelchair? I mean, it must be impossible!" That comment got a snort from Grover, though he quickly shut up again.

"The mist is a wonderful thing Andy." Mr Brunner chuckled. I raised one eyebrow – a wordless action that told him to carry on. "I'm afraid that to explain the mist I'm going to have to explain everything else. What would you say if I told you that what I taught you in my lessons was real?" With that he delved into a long explanation about Greek gods and their children. I couldn't speak throughout the entire description; not even to make a sarcastic comment. He told me that Greek mythology was real. He told me that I was a half-blood. A demi-god. My father, the person I had fantasized about when I was a little girl, was a Greek god.

A god!

He told me that Grover was a satyr, a half goat, half human creature that looked after the wild. They would go out into schools looking for half-bloods like me. Grover managed to stumble upon me at Yancy and had called Mr Brunner to come and help. Apparently I was a strong half-blood, as Mr Brunner only helped a select few demi-gods reach a camp. This camp was a safe haven for demigods to protect them from monsters.

That was the scary part of the whole talk. Half-bloods have a different scent to mortals (what Mr Brunner called normal people) and it attracted monsters that wanted to eat us. Mrs Dodds had been one of those monsters.

Grover and Mr Brunner had been lying to me for a reason. If a demi-god wasn't aware of their heritage, then their scent would be much weaker. They were trying to keep me safe before I could be taken to camp to be trained by Mr Brunner. That was when I realised something.

"Hang on a second!" I piped up for the first time in a while, stopping Mr Brunner mid rant. "You're a centaur. A centaur that trains half-bloods. By any chance, are you Chiron?"

He gave me a small nod to indicate that I was correct. "Well done Andy. It seems as though my lessons have been getting into your head after all." He looked so proud that I didn't want to correct him to say that, no, his lessons hadn't helped. I already knew about him from my mother.

"Wait, does my mother know about this? Does she know who my father was?" I asked, out of the blue

"She was informed when I first found you." Grover spoke for the first time since I broke down crying "Whether or not she knew about your dad being a god previously though, I'm not sure."

"It's quite unlikely that she did. Not many gods chose to tell their lovers about their true identities." Chiron added to Grover's statement. "Do you have any more questions Andy, or do you want to call it a night now?"

"One last question. What is the mist that you mentioned?" I asked after thinking about what I needed to know. Chiron's explanation had been rather ambiguous, but knowing him there was a reason for that. I was more of a go-with-the-flow type of person anyway. I would learn as I went along.

"The mist is the veil that stops regular mortals from seeing things from our world. It's what convinced the full school that there was never a Mrs Dodds to begin with. But it can be a blessing or a curse. So don't go killing a monster in front of a random group of people. It will not end well." Chiron clarified. "With that I think it's time for us all to go to bed. You two have exams in the morning and being up late wont excuse you from failing my test." He told me and Grover as he got back into his wheelchair that sat at the side of the room. Just like that, his lower body shrank until it fitted into the small wheelchair and he rode out.

I was about to leave too when Grover grabbed my arm.

"I just want you to know that me you being a half-blood isn't the only reason I was nice to you Andy. You are my best friend and nothing will change that. Are we good?" Grover looked so nervous that I couldn't help but feel bad for him.

"I never doubted our friendship for a second. I can't fully forgive you yet, but I can let this incident slide. Just try not to lie to me again!" I gave him a smile and he beamed at me in turn. We climbed up the stairs together, before going our separate ways – me to the girl's dorms and Grover to the boy's. I wandered down the corridor and entered my dorm. My dorm-mate was fast asleep on her desk, head resting on a book. I couldn't be bothered to wake her. I collapsed on my bed and fell straight to sleep.

For the first time in a month, I had no nightmares. Instead, I dreamt of the camp for half-bloods and a tall boy with a scar running across his eye.

 **Now, here is where the story diverges ever-so-slightly in the fact that Andy actually learns about her heritage before leaving Yancy. I've got a few reasons for her bursting in on Chiron and Grover, the main one being that Percy was already quite a reckless character, acting before he thought and following his heart, not his head, especially in the first book. Now imagine these emotions being increased due to the fact that girls are, scientifically, more emotional than boys. Of course, not all girls are, but I'd like to think that Andy is. It will definitely make writing her character quite interesting to say the least.**

 **Until next time,**

 **Lizzie x**


	5. Chapter 4

I think the fact that I had a good night's sleep was the only reason why I managed to pass Mr Brunner's exam. I actually got a C on the test - a C! It didn't make up for the fact I failed my other exams, but it definitely helped my self esteem.

After the tests were over there was only a few days let of school left. Mr Brunner had wanted me to go straight to Camp Half-Blood from Yancy but I convinced him to let me visit my mum for a few hours before hand – with Grover in tow of course. Then she would drive the two of us to Camp Half-Blood where I would start my training. I was very excited.

The days went by slowly. But thankfully, nothing much happened. The only event of any note was when my dorm-mate gave me a farewell card with a few people's signatures. It took me by surprise that she cared even a little about me, but I wasn't complaining.

Oh, when I rubbed my C in Latin in Nancy's face was a good moment too. She only got an E.

On the last day of school I was so eager to get home I was bouncing off the walls. I couldn't keep my energy inside me. Even as I said goodbye to the few people I was friends with and got on the bus I was hyper. I was going home!

I was going to see my mum! I was also going to see Smelly Gabe, but I was trying not to think about him.

"So," Grover started, slightly awkwardly "What's your mum like?"

"Amazing!" I responded, quickly pushing any thoughts of Smelly Gabe from my mind "Sweet, kind, loving, caring, funny, a great baker, I could go on and on and on and on and… well you get the picture!" Grover only smiled. He knew not to ask about Gabe (my step-father). Whenever he had asked about him before I had clammed up and refused to talk.

Gabe... wasn't the nicest of people. He was often drunk and I knew to hide when he was. He took my mum's money and I sometimes saw bruises on her arms. It wouldn't have alarmed me if not for the fact that they were hand shaped. I hated him with a passion. I was sure that if I wasn't at boarding school for most of the year I would have the same bruises all over my skin too.

A huge grinding noise drew me from my thoughts. The driver said a few words that would have been quite inappropriate for my ears if not for the fact that I had heard Gabe say them multiple times over. He pulled over to the side of the road before exiting the bus to take a look at what was wrong. He rummaged around in the engine compartment for a few minutes before telling us we would all have to get off for him to fix it. Grover and I left with the rest of the group.

The road we had broken down on was is the middle of nowhere – no signs to tell you where you were or any landmarks to give clues. Hardly any cars were driving down the road and the leaves on the maples trees were silently bristling in the wind.

However, on the other side of the country road stood a small fruit stand. Even though I questioned why the person who ran it decided to put it on the quiet road, I couldn't help but think that it was quite charming. Even though it was the wrong time of the year (it was the end of December for goodness sake!), there were overflowing boxes of apples, cherries, walnuts, apricots and jugs full to the brim with what I presumed was cider. Fresh strawberries were piled into several punnets labelled 'Delphi Strawberry Service'. Best of all, at the back was a pot of blueberries.

My mouth started to water. My mum and I had a thing about blue food. It was her small way of standing up to Gabe, after he told her it was impossible to have blue food. I know, technically blueberries aren't blue. But I was never fond of technicalities: more often than not they got me into trouble.

I strode over; barely registering Grover's panicked protests behind me. I placed my money on the stand as I reached out for the blueberries. As I did so, I looked up to see who was running the stand. Before me sat three old ladies in rocking chairs, knitting the largest pair of socks I had ever seen. Were they trying to break a world record or something? They had probably already beaten it.

Each of the pair were the size of Christmas jumpers, but were clearly in the shape of socks. The lady on the right sat with one pair of knitting needles and worked on one sock. The lady on the left mirrored her and worked on the other. The lady in the middle held a large ball of yarn. It was bright blue, one of my favourite colours.

The only strange thing about them was that they were staring at me. Almost as if they were looking at my soul. I shivered. It scared me slightly.

Never loosing eye contact, the middle lady picked up a pair of scissors and held them next to the yarn. I flinched involuntarily, waiting for her to cut the yarn.

Yet, she never did. Slowly, she put down the scissors and uttered one word to me:

"Go."

"Can I take these, or..?" I asked hesitantly. She only nodded as I turned around and scampered back to Grover, who was the palest I had ever seen him.

"What did the old ladies do at the fruit stand Andy?" Grover questioned, nerves evident across his face

"I brought some blueberries from them... Why, wasn't I supposed to do that? They were just sitting there, with a bunch of fruit for sale and I couldn't help myself..."

"No! Andy, what were the women doing? Did they do anything with the yarn?"

"Oh yeah, they were knitting with it. The middle one nearly cut it, but then she put the scissors down. She then told me to go. She was creeping me out to be honest."

If it was possible, Grover got even paler at my answer. Almost as if on cue, the bus driver announced that the problem was fixed and that we could all get back on the bus. I had to direct Grover to get back on the bus as he wasn't focused on anything. He was in his own little world; muttering about the old ladies, never getting past sixth grade and... my death? How did he get onto that trail of thought? I thought I was the one with ADHD!

I waved my hand in front of him and when that didn't stir him from his stupor I clicked my fingers in his ears. He jumped, startled, and I asked if he was okay.

"An..Andy, I h..have a rea..son to be fr..freaked out." He explained after a while, still stuttering slightly "Th..Think of the three de..deities that are con..n..nected to string. Sp...specifically, string connected to l..life."

That was the last thing he said to me for the entire bus journey. I was left to my blueberries, my thoughts and Grover's comment. I mulled it over inside my head, trying to make links between three old ladies, string and Greek mythology. There was one obvious connection in my mind, but I was desperately trying to make another link. Popping a blueberry into my mouth, I realised that it was the only possible one.

I had met the Fates.

When we got to the terminal, Grover finally spoke to me again. However, it was only to get me to promise to wait for him as he went to the toilet. This didn't surprise me, as Grover's bladder often acted up when he was upset. So I went to get both of our bags and stood outside the terminal, waiting for Grover to come out.

I was tempted to ditch him, as I really wanted to see my mum, but I knew that he had to come with me. He and Mr Brunner - no, Chiron –had told me that satyrs were meant to protect half-bloods like me, and that it would look bad on Grover if I came to camp without him. It was why he was coming with me to my apartment in the first place. But I have always been incredibly impatient.

This time I had a reason to be though. My mum was the best person in the world. Her name is Sally Jackson (no, she did not take Gabe's surname when she married him. Who would want the surname Ugliano of all things?) and her achievements include being amazing at baking blue cookies and being the proof for my theory that the best people have the worst luck imaginable. When she was five, her parents died in a plane crash so she had to be raised by an uncle that didn't care two hoots about her. Her dream was to be an author, so during high school she tried to save every penny she had to get into college with a good creative-writing program. But then her uncle got cancer, so she had to drop out of senior year to take care of him. When he died, he left her with nothing. No money. No family. No diploma.

The only bit of good luck she ever got was when she met my father.

I don't remember him, faint images of a warm smile pop into my mind when I try, but nothing else. Mum doesn't like to talk about him because it upsets her to do so. She has no pictures of him. Only memories.

They never married, as he was rich and important (or so my mum said) so their relationship had to stay a secret. She told me that one day he set sail on a boat on an important journey. He never came back. He was lost at sea.

But now I know that the last bit was a lie. He was a god. According to Chiron, my mum probably wouldn't have known that, but I liked to think that she did. It would mean that she knew the reason that my dad left her, left _us_ , to never return. That would make her story only slightly less heartbreaking.

After dad left her, she raised me by herself, working odd jobs, taking night classes to get her high school diploma, never complaining, never angry. She had a perfect reason to be, and if she was then I wouldn't have blamed her. But she wasn't. She put up with me and my crazy shenanigans. I know that I wasn't ever the easiest kid to take care of.

Finally, a few years later, she met and married Gabe. He was nice to me for the first minute or so (I think he lasted that long purely because I was a girl) but let his true colours shine through when he demanded that I 'Get lost' and that my mum and I should 'Make ourselves useful'. In the next week I had already nicknamed him Smelly Gabe, even if I never called him that to his face. But his name really was fitting. Everywhere he went, the stench of mouldy pizza wrapped in gym shorts trailed behind him like a lost puppy.

I have never regretted hating him for the way he treated my mum. But I do regret the way I treated him. Our arguments only served to make my mum's life worse that it already was.

So, my mum's life was a mess. Having her daughter get involved in her father's (aka a yet un-named god's) family was just going to make her life harder.

But I wasn't thinking about that when Grover came back. I was just thinking about how amazing it would be to see her again, to hug her again, to be with her again. Even if it was only for an hour or two.

So once Grover returned to me, I immediately hailed cab and told the driver my address.

I was on my way home.

 **So that was chapter 4! I'm about to start my GCSEs, so I wanted to get a chapter out before the onslaught of exams. Wish me luck!**

 **I went through the the start of this story and found that I wasn't 100% happy with it so I (once again) edited it. I feel like I spend more time editing this story than I do actually writing it! I didn't edit chapters 2 and 3 by much, but I cut a fair bit out of chapter 1. It was phrased too much like the original for my liking and I wanted to edit it so that to make it clear that this happens BEFORE the Winter Solstice and stop Andy from seeming too** **knowledgeable** **about Greek Myths. She still knows a some things, but I phrased it so that she knows a bit less now. I also added a prologue! It isn't from Andy's pov and I'm pretty sure it's obvious whose pov it actually is, so I'll just say it:**

 **It's Luke's! Yep, Luke will be a big part of this story, and SPOILER ALERT! I'm going to go down the** **cliche** **route of making him a good guy. Now I just have to write it...**

 **I hope that you liked both this chapter and the prologue,**

 **Lizzie**


	6. Chapter 5

I opened the door to our apartment and gestured for Grover to wait by the door. I couldn't risk him being the first thing Gabe seeing. It was inevitable that he was at home, but I was hoping that mum would be home too. Sadly that wasn't the case. The only people in the house were Smelly Gabe and his buddies, lounging about in the living room, playing a game of poker. The television was turned on at full volume. Crisps were scattered across the carpet and beer cans laid on top of them. Grover looked shocked at the mess in front of him and stood there gobsmacked. Thankfully he stayed silent.

Barely registering my presence Gabe commented "And the brat's finally arrived."

"Where's my mum?"

"Working at that sweet shop. Got any cash on you?"

I was hardly surprised at my reception. It was much better than him shouting at me and he didn't seem to have noticed Grover yet, which was a plus.

Gabe had managed put on some weight, which was a feat in its self regarding his stature before I left to go to Yancy. Only about three hairs remained on his scalp, all combed the same direction over his otherwise bald head. He probably thought that combing his hair would make him handsome. As if!

His job was to manage the Electronics Mega-Mart in Queens. Well, I say it was his job, but he never actually went. Most of the time he stayed at home. I wasn't sure why he hadn't been fired, but that event was yet to come. He just kept on coming home with checks he collected, spending the money he earned on cigarettes (the smell of which made me feel sick to my stomach) and beer. Never forget the beer. Whenever I was home from school, he expected me to provide funds for when he gambled. He said that 'it was the least I could do' and that it would be 'our little secret'. Meaning that if anyone else, including my mum, ever found out, he would beat the living daylights out of me.

"Well?" He knocked me out of my thoughts "Do you have money or not?"

"No." I kept my answer short and simple, trying to not to start another argument.

He raised a single eyebrow at me. If there was one thing Gabe was good at, it was telling where money was. Also drinking beer, but that wasn't important in this situation.

"I guess that you took a taxi from the bus station? You would have paid with a twenty and got what? Six, seven bucks of change? So hand it over! If you expect me to share _my_ home with _you,_ then you better start providing me with a reason to let you stay." He all but shouted in my face. It took all I had not to cringe when the smell of his breath hit me. Leaning back from him, I noticed one of Gabe's friends twitch. It was Eddie, the superintendent of the apartment building. He looked up at me in pity, but chose to do nothing to defend me.

Slowly, I stuck a hand into my pocket and drew out the money which I flung onto the table. I could feel anger bubbling inside myself.

"I hope you lose." I muttered under my breath

"What was that, girl?" Gabe roared, but before I could answer he started again "This isn't enough! Where's the last bit. You didn't think you could keep it did you, girl?"

I took a deep breath, attempting to tame my anger. But it was all in vain.

"I bought some blueberries! That's where _your_ missing money is Gabe!" My anger burst out of me like a collapsing dam.

"Why I oughta..." He began to threaten me as I stalked out of the room towards my own, dragging a terrified Grover with me. Miraculously, Gabe hadn't noticed him, or had chosen to ignore him. Hopefully, it was the former, but with my luck, it would be the latter.

I shoved Grover into my room and slammed the door behind us, breathing heavily the entire time. Grover stared at me in surprise, showing a facial expression that I had seen all too often.

"You have to live with that?" he asked, unbelieving.

"Yep." I answer tonelessly, dropping my suitcase on the bed.

"He was much worse than I thought. He's... He's a monster!" At that word I flinched, an image of Gabe with long talons flitting across my mind.

"Oh, I'm so sorry Andy, I keep on forgetting..." Grover quickly began once he saw the frightened look on my face. He was suddenly cut off when a sweet voice came from outside the door.

"Andy? Andy, are you home?" The sound of my mum's voice drew me out of my panic and I instantly looked up and threw open the door. Before me stood my mum and my face melted into a smile. I flung myself at her as she looked at me with emotions that could only be described as delight and love.

"Andy! You've grown since I saw you last!" She said, giving me a warm embrace

"Only an inch!" I retorted, looking up at her "I want to be much taller than that!"

My mum only laughed in reply. I joined her, before she looked over my shoulder at Grover, who was standing awkwardly at the side of my room.

"And who's this?" She asked with a smile.

"This is Grover! Um... He is here to..."

"Take you to camp. I know. I always knew. Your father told me that it was the only safe place for you. I just didn't want to say goodbye to my baby girl." Her smile dropped a little as she sighed, but it quickly showed itself again "So, are you a satyr?"

This time, it was my turn to be shocked "You knew? You knew and you never told me?"

"It was for your own good Andy." She told me, keeping me held in her arms "If you knew what you were then they would find you, and you had no training. There was a massive possibility that you would be... you could be..." Before she could end with the dreaded word, she was interrupted by a piercing yell.

"Sally! Get us some bean dip, will ya?"

I gritted my teeth as I shared a look with Grover. My mum was the nicest person in the world. She deserved someone so much better than a jerk like Gabe.

"Hey, mum," I said before she could start again "If you knew about the gods, then do you know who my dad is? Did he tell you?"

"He did, but I don't want to tell you." I deflated a little, wondering why she was keeping such important information from me

"Don't be disappointed with your mum, Andy." Grover added quietly "One of a halfblood's biggest moments in camp is when their parent claims them. It builds a connection with their parent that wouldn't have been there otherwise. It might be for the best that you don't know right now, so you can have a better relationship with him later."

It was weak reasoning (sounding almost as if it was a rehearsed line to tell disappointed half bloods why their parents didn't ever talk to them) but I figured that Grover was right. I wanted my dad to notice me and for _him_ to claim me (whatever claiming meant) - him and no-one else.

I wanted to know that he cared, even the slightest bit.

"Anyway," Mum began, interrupting my thoughts "I have a surprise for you. We're going to the beach! Obviously, Grover can come too."

"Montauk?" I asked, my eyes widening. Mum only nodded in reply. Smiles lit up both of our faces.

"I...I hate to interrupt this moment Miss Jackson, but Chiron wants Andy at camp as soon as possible." Grover piped up.

"Call me Sally, dear," Mum told Grover "And it will only be for a few hours. Montauk is much closer to camp than we are here, and wouldn't it be nice to get out of the apartment?" She left one reason unsaid. She wished to get me and Grover away from Gabe.

"When are we going?" I questioned

"I soon as I change out of my work clothes!" Came the reply

I was incredibly excited. The last time my mum and I had gone to Montauk was two years previously, as last year Gabe had claimed that there wasn't enough money.

That was when Gabe appeared in the doorway "Sally, I told you I wanted bean dip. Were you not listening?"

My first instinct was to hit Gabe - no-one had the right to talk to my mum like that - but then I met her eyes. Silently, she gazed at me, and I knew that she was offering me a deal. Be nice to Gabe for a little while, then we would leave for Montauk as soon as possible.

"I was just talking to Andy and Grover here about the trip. I was coming soon." She told him calmly

"You were serious about that trip? I ignored the fact that the girl had brought a brat home with her, but I didn't know that he was going on the trip as well."

"I knew that he wouldn't let us go" I muttered under my breath, while Grover looked very offended at being called a brat.

"Of course you step-father will let us go, Andy. He is just worried about us spending too much. Anyway, Gabriel won't have to settle for just the bean dip. I'll make him enough seven-layer dip to last the whole afternoon. In fact I'll start after we finish this conversation." My mum said evenly

Gabe looked at her and relented a bit "The money for this trip comes from your clothes budget, remember?"

"Yes, honey." My mother replied

"And don't you dare take my car anywhere but there and back!"

"We'll be very careful Gabriel, don't you worry."

Gabe raised his hand to scratch his double chin. "Well, you might be able to go if you hurry with the dip. And if the kid apologizes for interrupting my poker game. Oh, and bringing a friend home without my permission."

'Well, I might just have to kick you where the sun doesn't shine if you don't shut up!' I thought, but one look at my mum and I knew that that wasn't an option.

I sighed in resignation, wishing that my mum didn't feel like she had to go out of her way to please this brute. For God's (or maybe it's gods'...) sake, she didn't even like him. Let alone love him!

"I'm sorry," I mumbled "I'm sorry for bring home a friend without telling you first and for interrupting you 'oh-so-important' poker game. Maybe you would like to return to it now?"

Gabe looked at me, annoyance flickering in his eyes. His pea-sized brain was probably trying to figure out if my statement was sarcastic or not. When he finally gave up he left with a huff and a roll of his eyes.

"Thank you Andy," my mum looked down at me "Once we get to Montauk, we can continue this conversation, okay?"

"Okay."

 **Wow, this story has had over 1400 views. I don't know how to thank you guys enough for sticking with this story, even with my horrific update schedule! So yeah, THANK YOU! I hope you enjoyed this chapter and I will see you all next time I eventually post a chapter (fingers crossed that it will be sooner rather than later).**

 **Lizzie**


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